A huge effort had been made during the week by volunteers, sponsors and stadium staff so that FC Helsingør could play the home match against FC Nordsjælland at our own stadium. That huge effort had paid off, and the two teams could take to the pitch for the final match of the regular season in front of an expectant FC Helsingør crowd, whose expectations had been raised a notch by the impressive performance at Parken in the last round.
The match started with a home side that really looked like they were enjoying being back on their own turf. It was FC Helsingør who pressed, and especially the three Brazilians Matheus, Douglas and Felipe Tontini were in fine form. It was so-so with the clear-cut chances, but FCH pressed Nordsjælland high up the pitch and kept them away from the Helsingør half.
But, as mentioned, there was a long way between chances. After a quarter of an hour Nicolas Mortensen was brought down on the edge of the box. TK went for the ball, but his free kick went straight into the wall.
We had to get all the way to the 36 minute before one of the teams got a big chance. After some neat play around the FCH box, the ball ended up with Bartolec, who played it back into the box to Mikkel Damsgaard, who struck firmly, but Superliga debutant Adrian Kappenberger got down to the ball and prevented an away goal.
There were scattered build-ups to chances from both teams, but it never really got dangerous in the last ten minutes. FC Helsingør went in at halftime with a feeling that they had had a slight edge.
The second half started with attacking pressure from FCH, and after just a minute and a half it was close to paying off. After Matheus had carried the ball forward, a cross found Felipe Tontini, who headed it on to Douglas. The Brazilian turned acrobatically and finished while half lying down, but the ball went just wide of the post. A fine chance for the home side.
After that it was back to a battle of attrition, where FC Helsingør passed the ball around nicely, and FC Nordsjælland struggled to get their play going. After an hour Tontini managed to find Matheus, who came charging in, but FCH's number nine fired the shot a fair distance over the goal.
A minute later FC Nordsjælland had their first chance of the second half. Mikkel Rygaard broke forward through the middle and drifted out to the right, where he beat a man, cut into the box and finished. But his lovely shot toward the far corner did not quite get enough curl on the ball, and it hit the post and went back into play.
After 65 minutes, Helsingør were incredibly close to taking the lead. A long through ball from midfield found Douglas on the run, and the big target man got past his marker and managed to poke the ball forward. Unfortunately it was just a couple of centimeters too far ahead, and his toe-poke went straight to goalkeeper Runarsson's outstretched parry, and the ball rolled out to the left, hit the post and danced along the line, but Bartolec got back just in front of Douglas, so it did not go in.
Five minutes later a very impressive Matheus received the ball on the edge of the box from substitute Tobias Christensen and sent a shot toward the far corner. But it did not dip quite enough and went over the crossbar.
After 78 minutes it was no longer enough for the visitors from FC Nordsjælland. Matheus got the ball on the left side and found Douglas in behind. The big striker carried the ball into the box and played it square to Nicolas Mortensen, who calmly fired it home. Sublime build-up play orchestrated by today's best player, Matheus Leiria.
1-0 FC Helsingør
After that FC Nordsjælland tried to launch a late push, but they could not get past a well-playing Helsingør defense, and so FC Helsingør could celebrate the return to Helsingør Stadium with three warm points on a bitterly cold evening, when referee Benjamin Willaume-Jantzen blew for full time after four minutes of stoppage time.
FC Helsingør: Kappenberger, Gregor, S. Henriksen, Jørgensen, Mohammad, Köhler, P. Olsen, Leiria, Tontini, Mortensen, Douglas
Substitutes: Christensen, Basse, Stückler
Photo: Claus Birch, clausbirch.dk
